Megaman Battle Network Cross Gate
by SdazVarence
Summary: Rom Casket is a 10 year old living in ACDC town who worships Lan Hikari. He spends his days goofing off and getting into trouble with his Net Navi Axl.exe. But when a mysterious girl named "Leilei La Lalena" suddenly appears in the net, the two are thrusted into an adventure so grand, that the fate of two different worlds are at stake.
1. Battle Chip Listing

**BATTLE CHIP LISTING**

 **Standard Chips**

01\. Cannon (Chip Codes A B C)

Non Element

02\. Hi-Cannon (Chip Codes D E F)

Non Element

03\. Mega Cannon (Chip Codes G H I)

Non Element

04\. Air Shot (Chip Codes *)

Wind Element

05\. Vulcan 1 (Chip Code *)

Non Element

06\. Vulcan 2 (Chip Codes A B C)

Non Element

07\. Vulcan 3 (Chip Codes L M N)

Non Element

08\. Shotgun 1 (Chip Codes S T U)

Non Element

09\. Shotgun 2 (Chip Codes I J K)

Non Element

10\. Shotgun 3 (Chip Codes N M O)

Non Element

11\. Fireshot (Chip Codes F M L)

Fire Element

12\. IceShot (Chip Codes I M L)

Aqua Element

13\. Thundershot (Chip Codes T M L)

Elec Element

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

21.

22.

23\. Sword (Chip Code *)

Sword Element

24\. Wide Sword (Chip Code *)

Sword Element

25\. Long Sword (Chip Code *)

Sword Element

26.

27.

28.

29.

30.

31.

32.

33.

34.

35.

36.

37.

38.

39.

40\. Shock Wave (Chip Code: R)

Non Element

41\. Sonic Wave (Chip Code: W)

Non Element

42\. Dyna Wave (Chip Code: V)

Non Element

43.

44.

45.

46.

47.

48.

49.

50\. Fire Tower (Chip Code: E F M)

Fire Element

51\. Aqua Tower (Chip Code: G, H, R)

Aqua Element

52.

53.

54.

55.

56.

57.

58.

59.

60.

61.

62.

63.

64.

65.

66.

67.

68.

69.

70\. Power Fist 1 (Chip Code M)

Non Element

71\. Power Fist 2 (Chip Code N)

Non Element

72\. Power Fist 3 (Chip Code O)

Non Element

73.

74.

75.

76.

77.

78.

79.

80.

81.

82.

83.

84.

85.

86.

87.

88.

89.

90.

91.

92.

93.

94.

95.

96.

97.

98.

99.

100.

101.

102.

103.

104.

105.

106.

107.

108.

109.

110.

111.

112.

113.

114.

115.

116.

117.

118.

119.

120.

121.

122.

123.

124.

125.

126.

127.

128.

129.

130.

131.

132.

133.

134.

135.

136.

137.

138.

139.

140\. RockCube (Chip Code *)

Obstacle Element

141.

142.

143.

144.

145.

146.

147.

148.

149.

150\. Recover 10 (Chip Code *)

Recovery Element

151\. Recover 30 (Chip Code *)

Recovery Element

152\. Recover 50 (Chip Code *)

Recovery Element

153\. Recover 80 (Chip Code *)

Recovery Element

154\. Recover 120 (Chip Code *)

Recovery Element

155\. Recover 150 (Chip Code L)

Recovery Element

156\. Recover 200 (Chip Code M)

Recovery Element

157\. Recover 300 (Chip Code N)

Recovery Element

158.

159.

160.

161.

162.

163\. Invisible (Chip Codes *)

Shadow Element

164.

165.

166.

167.

168.

169.

170.

171.

172.

173.

174.

175.

176.

177.

178.

179.

180\. Crash Bomber (Chip Code C)

Breaker Element

181\. Hard Knuckle (Chip Codes H)

Non Element

182.

183.

184.

185.

186.

187.

188.

189.

190.

191.

192.

193.

194.

195.

196.

197.

198.

199.

200.

 **Mega Chips**

01\. Super Vulcan (Chip Codes S)

Non Element

02.

03.

04.

05.

06.

07.

08.

09.

10.

11\. Crashman (Chip Code C)

Breaking Element

12\. Crashman SP (Chip Code C)

Breaking Element

13\. Crashman DX (Chip Code C)

Breaking Element

15\. Hardman (Chip Code H)

Non Element

16\. Hardman SP (Chip Code H)

Non Element

17\. Hardman DX (Chip Code H)

Non Element

18\. Roll (Chip Code R)

Recovery Element

19\. Roll SP (Chip Code R)

Recovery Element

20\. Roll DX (Chip Code R)

Recovery Element


	2. Chapter 1

On the continent of Falmart, east of the sacred sight of Alnus hill is Coda Village, a small farming town, nearby is the Koan woods, where a community of High Elves lived. About 3 days or so to the north is Italica, a central trading city, set on the crossroads of the Appia Highway and the Dessria highway, making it an important location for merchants. North East across the Dumas Mountain Range was Sadera, the seat of the Great Empire which ruled the majority of the continent.

Not that it mattered much to Leilei La Lalena, a resident of Coda village, living nearby in the home of her master and teacher, the Sage Calto. She was Rurudo, a nomadic people, and as such had no real attachment or loyalty to the Empire. She was known to be a quiet and stoic girl, but had a brilliant mind and was quite curious. It was these aspects that made her a brilliant pupil and mage under Calto's guidance.

"Someday Leilei." Calto had once said. "You will become a great Sage, perhaps even greater than me."

She regarded this as she walked along the road to Coda. She was only 16, if she became a Sage she would be the youngest to ever achieve it.

She shuddered briefly, thinking of how her step sister would react to that. She stopped walking, something caught her eye off the road, turning she stepped off, approaching the object and kneeling down. Sitting there in the grass, seemingly floating, was a cube shaped, green gem, it gave off a soft glow, and small wisps of light seem to drift off it. She looked at it, examining it with curious eyes. Where did it come from? She looked up and down the road, maybe it belonged to someone in Coda village? No it looked too valuable, yet she knew for a fact no noble would come out here. She reached out to the crystal and to pick it up, but when she touched it, the crystal glowed suddenly and disappeared into the wisps of light that drifted off it, causing Leilei to fall back alarmed.

"Strange." she said, staring at where the crystal was. "Where did it go?" She stood back up, gripping her staff and blinking for a moment, she had to rub her eyes and blink again, but for a moment she thought she saw something, some sort of image in her mind, a name in a language that looked unfamiliar, and yet she could read it all the same. She shook her head turning and walking back home.

In Sage Calto's house, Leilei was sitting at her desk, pen in hand and paper in front of her, she was drawing something, catching Calto's attention as the old man walked over.

"What are you doing Leilei?" he asked watching.

"Drawing." she said, first drawing the strange crystal she saw.

"I can see that." said Calto. "But what exactly are you drawing?"

"Something I saw." said Leilei. "On the road." She was now sketching the image she saw in her mind, and somehow when she thought about it, it came to her, fresh in her thoughts, making it easier to recreate the image. It looked like an imagine of some kind of weapon, sort of square-ish with an opening on one side and some kind of explosive magic coming from it. Once finished with the drawing, she penned the word she saw associated with it, a strange word indeed, she wondered how she could read this language she has never seen before. "Cannon A". Cannon? What's a cannon?

Leilei put the pen down, staring at it for a long moment. What was it? Did it come from the crystal? She shook her head, opened a book and went back to her studies.

"DAMN IT AXL!" came the all too familiar cry.

was the Net Navi of 10 year old Rom Casket, and together they were both somewhat mischievous. Axl was a custom netnavi resembling a teenage boy with dark blue colored armor over a grey bodysuit with line trimming, and a blue helmet with goggles on the top of the helmet (which came down during Net Battles), and a tuft of spiky reddish orange hair off the back, along with the goggles a mask would also cover his face during a net battle, giving him a distinct look. on his back were two white bladed wings that extended out during net battles. Unlike other Net Navis, he didn't have a buster gun built in, and instead wielded a pair of Buster pistols which he used with accuracy. This is largely influenced by Rom, who was a fan of old westerns, as a result Axl tended to have a cowboy hat and a poncho as accessories, often when he's not in combat. Both on his chest and on his poncho was his Navi symbol, a pair of pistols crossed over each other. Axl was a netnavi built for long range combat.

The crying out this time around came from another Net Navi, , a tall Navi with heavy armor over vital areas and a pair of large drills in place of his hands, with a blast shield over his face, he was owned by Rom's friend Palette, who go to school together in ACDC town, the home of the famous Lan Hikari who 20 years ago saved the world multiple times over it was said.

Axl grinned, spinning his pistols and sliding them into the holsters on his hip, he looked up with grin. "Hey Palette, I think Crashman is getting cranky in his old age."

"Hey! Who are you calling old?" Crashman asked, his eye twitching behind his mask.

"You." said Axl folding his arms.

"You need to curb that attitude of your Axl." said Crashman. He walked over to him, point at the younger Netnavi with one of his drill hands. "Your way too reckless and ones of these days you are going to get deleted."

"Hey we cleared out the viruses didn't we?" Axl asked nonchalantly. "Homework saved."

The place they were in is the net, the vast cyberspace which connects all of the world. Inside the net lived programs called Net Navis, sentient programs capable of communicating with their owners, or Net ops, interact with the net, and bust Viruses. Axl was in Palette's PC, a fairly standard layout with a wallpaper of flowers in the background.

"And besides, they were only mettaurs. Only an Amateur gets killed by Mettaurs." said Axl.

"So do cocky Netnavis with equally cocky netops." said Crashman.

"Don't know what you're talking about." said Axl with a grin. "See ya around Crashy." and with that Axl jacked out.

A giggle came from nowhere, belonging to Crashman's operator Palette. "You do realize that all of that worrying an complaining you do just means you care about him." she said sweetly.

Crashman shook his head. "Ms. Palette I understand the two of you have been friends for a long time, but really you should talk some sense in that thick headed Rom. One of these days his gung ho antics are going to get Axl deleted."

Palette just smiled, she was sitting on a beanbag chair in her room, a pretty blonde girl who will no doubt blossom into a beautiful woman some day, the signs are already showing as it is as she was staring at her PET, short for PErsonel Terminal. She was currently wearing a floral top with a short skirt and she smiled as Crashman appeared in his PET.

"And not for nothing Ms. Palette." he said. "I could have easily handled those Viruses myself."

"Axl was visiting." said Palette. "No harm done right?" Crashman just sighed.

A few blocks down was Rom's house, where he lives with his Grandfather Barrel, a cantankerous but nice old man and inventor who worked for Scilab in the past, but had retired. Rom was 10 years old with short spiky brown hair and green eyes, often seen wearing a hoodie with Axl's symbol on the back and shorts with roller Shoes for quickly getting around ACDC town. Rom was sitting in his bedroom in front of his computer yawning as he sat back and grinned.

"Another successful Virus Bust Axl." he said to his PET, sitting in its charger. "Viruses are no match for the best gun slinger in the net."

Axl grinned from the screen on Rom's PET. "Darn straight! You just line them up and I'll blast them dead."

"And soon we'll be as famous as Lan Hikari." said Rom grinning. "I mean its awesome enough we live in the same town as our hero."

"I know right?" Axl said grinning just as much. "And one day I hope to match wits with ! You'll see Rom, one day we'll meet them face to face."

"Yup!" grinned Rom.

"Of course if you don't get your homework done." said Axl. "We'll be dealing with MRS. HIKARI tearing us a new one, again." Rom twitched. Mrs. Hikari referred to Mayl Sakurai Hikari, Rom's homeroom teacher at ACDC elementary. He banged his head on his desk. "Oh crap." he said.

"Considering we were helping Palette keep viruses from deleting her homework, I'm surprised you didn't think about that." said Axl.

"Quiet you." said Rom, who reached for his keyboard and brought up the homework program.

The next morning, Leilei had gone out after doing her chores and her studies, and walked back to the place on the road she saw the Green Crystal.

It was back, floating in the exact same spot that it was in last time. She stared at it, considered it for a moment. The last time she touched it that weird image appeared in her head. She thought for a moment before she knelt down and touched it again, and again the crystal disappeared like before.

She blinked. "Another Cannon." she said to herself, seeing the image in her mind again, that strange weapon like object, the name was the same but, she could see a different letter in front of the word. She took out the notebook she brought with her, having made a copy of the image she drew before into it, she wrote the new letter. "B" next to the "A" in the word "Cannon". She looked at the word, and at the two letters next to it, she blinked again looking in her thoughts. "Cannon A" seemed to be separate from "Cannon B" in her mind. It was very strange indeed, it was like two different spells committed to memory. Were they spells? But this is a strange way to learn magic if that was the...she stopped hearing a rustling in some bushes nearby, she stood up, readying her staff, her eyes narrowed slightly as the bushes parted.

What popped out was a strange, round shaped creature. Its body was Black with two big eyes staring at Leilei, and sat on small yellow feet with some kind of yellow hat with a cross on it. It stepped out of the bushes, staring at Leilei for a moment.

"Hello..." Leilei said, staring at it. The creature blinked its eyes, before what looked like a pickaxe appeared above it, out of nowhere, and it would slam it into the ground, sending a shockwave of energy at Leilei. The Young mage went wide eyed before moving out of the way, and the creature turned toward Leilei and sent another shockwave at her, again she dodged, readying her magic her body gave off a glow before she held her staff out and sent an energy bolt at the creature. The creature fell back, but got back on its feet and shook itself, and launched another attack at Leilei.

"Tough creature." she thought, she dodged again, she was thankful it was so predictable, as he fired another round of magic bolts at the creature, trying to stack damage, it seemed to be doing something but not enough.

"Need more power." Leilei said, she dodged another attack from the creature. "Need a stronger spell." She blinked, a stronger spell? She looked into her mind at the two images of those 'spells' she got from the crystals. Are they spells? Only one way to find out. Her body glowed with magic again and she held out her staff, she focused on one of those images, of the strange spelled called "Cannon". She focused on the one marked "A" for now.

She saw the image fade to grey in her mind, and suddenly her staff glowed in her hands and changed, she stared in shock, as the glow wrapped around her forearm, turning into the image, a strange box like thing made of metal with an opening in front. She didn't have time to ponder as she took aim with it, and willing it fired a blast from the opening that struck the creature, sending it flying and dissipating in small burst of energy. The Cannon spell faded from her arm and she looked at where the creature use to stand. Strange she didn't feel fatigued from using the Cannon spell. Normally magic drains a person's stamina, depending on how strong. The small bolts she fired wouldnt do much to her, but something stronger, or many spells over time, would drain her dry. She looked back in her mind, seeing that "Cannon A" was still 'Grayed out'. When she tried to conjure it again, nothing happened, strange. She ignored that for now, and headed for the bushes, but she stopped when she realized a new image was in her head, yet another spell, acquired the same way as a Cannon, but from that creature. The image in her mind showed the creature swinging its pickaxe at the ground. "Shockwave H" it was called.

"Strange." she said blinking in confusion. "I learned two spells in two days, without studying or books." Technically it was three, considering the two different instances of "Cannon" in her mind, each with a different letter next to it. But she counted that as one in her mental list she was keeping, along with the two letters associated with it. She looked back to the bushes where the creature came from. She had never seen a monster like it before, and wondered where it could have come from, she decided the best way to do that was to investigate where it came out of and made her way to the bushes, going through them and trying not to tear her robes. Despite her age she was small and petite, making it easy to get through the brush, seeing where the creature merely walked through due to its small size. After a little more walking she came to a small clearing in the woods, and there on the ground she saw what looked to be a magic circle giving off a soft glow. She examined it carefully, keeping her distance as she jotted its shape down in her notebook, she'll have to check Master's books when she got home, but right now her curiosity was getting the better of her. Did the creature come from this circle? If so what was its function? A summoning circle perhaps? Or a teleportation spell. There was only one way to find out. Gripping her staff, and taking a deep breath, she stepped onto the circle, and disappeared in a beam of light.


	3. Chapter 2

Rom yawned, sitting in the back of homeroom asleep, he was up all night trying to get all his homework done.

"Um, Rom, you need to wake up." Axl whispered.

"Five more minutes mom..."

"Oh boy." Axl sweat dropped as the sound of heels clicking came over toward Rom's desk. "Ahem!"

"I said five more minutes mom..."

"I'm pretty sure I'm not your mother." came the voice, belonging to a young woman standing over Rom, he blinked his eyes looking up, the haze lifting to reveal and attractive woman in her 30's her red hair was in a pony tail , held in place by a hair clip consisting of a pink circular disc with a yellow triangle. she wore a modest skirt that came to her knees and a blue wool sweater , stockings came up to her thighs and she wore sensible shoes with a short heel, hence the clicking. His eyes widen and he scrambled to sit up straight. "MRS. HIKARI! I WASNT ASLEEP AT ALL HONEST I WAS JUST GETTING READY FOR THE DAY AND..."

The woman sighed and just smiled. "Oh for heaven sakes Rom calm down." she shook her head. "Your worse than my husband when he was your age you know that? At least he stayed awake during class."

Rom laughed nervously. "Sorry Mrs. Hikari. Wont happened again."

Mayl Sakurai Hikari just smiled and shook her head. "I wonder if this is how Ms. Mari felt dealing with all of us when we were kids." She headed to the front of the classroom.

"Well she sure told you." Axl said chuckling.

"Oh be quiet." Said Rom as he jacked Axl into the school net to begin class. Two desks up Palette giggled at the scene. Crashman was rolling his eyes at this.

"Alright class." Mayl said with a smile. "Let's begin today's lesson, everyone jack in."

The class nodded, jacking their Netnavis in. Most had generic Netnavi, a robotic looking figure with a faceless appearance, often in green coloration though there were stronger versions. Then there were custom Netnavis, like Axl and Crashman, who had very unique appearances and often special abilities. Up front at the teacher's desk in the class net was Mayl's Navi. . Much like Mayl Roll had the look of a mature woman, with a Pink and black bodysuit that hugged her figure. She was looking over the class and grinned. "Alright." she said. "It's time for some Virus busting lessons."

"Yeah, my favorite subject!" Axl said. He twirled his buster pistols. "Let me at those Viruses" Crashman groaned and looked back at him. "Would you stop it with your boasting we're in the middle of class."

"Wow total dejavu here." Roll said with a smile. "Axl, Crashman, you both seem ready to go, how about you start the class off."

all eyes were on them, and a chuckle came from the other side. the resident bully of the class crossed his arms. He was a large heavy set Reploid with a thruster on his head down to his bottom, allowing for surprising mobility. his large fists helped with his 'signature attack' the Hard Knuckle, as called by his operator Blake, the resident 'tough kid' in class.

"Ah let me do it Ms. Roll!" Hardman said. "Blake and I will crush them viruses."

"What with your "Hard Knuckle?" " said Axl. "Everyone knows that move of yours is just a dolled up Power Fist Chip."

Hardman growled standing up. "I'll show you dolled up."

Axl grinned and aimed his buster pistols. in the real world Rom was staring down Blake, a Fat kid with a bad haircut wearing shorts and T shirt, for a 10 year old he was actually pretty tall and used that to his advantage.

"Forget the Virus Busting." said Blake. "How about we jump to the Net Battle classes so I can school you and Axl."

"Bring it Blake!" said Rom. "Axl and I train day and night to be the best! After all I hope to one day challenge Lan Hikari to a net battle."

Blake laughed. "Challenge Lan? your dreaming! There's no way you can beat Megaman! Hell I bet his son Patch can kick your butt. and he's still in first grade."

"He probably could." Roll said, whispering to Mayl. Mayl sighed and shook her head, she was seriously getting flashbacks to Lan and Dex always butting heads. "Rom, Blake that's enough. No net battling in class alright? If you really want to see who is better than wait till class is over." She held her PET up casually, an evil glint in her eyes that betrayed that rather calm smile she had. "And I'll be more than happy to give you both private lessons in Net Battling, understood?"

Rom and Blake gulped looking over at Mayl.

"Forget getting beaten up by Patch." Palette said with a smile. "I doubt the both of you can beat Mrs. Hikari."

"Oh and I bet you can?" Blake said.

Palette smiled sweetly. "I'm not the one in trouble now am I?"

The two boys sighed, head hung low.

Leilei stood there, trying to wrap her head around what she was seeing. She was standing on a square platform that hung over an abyss of some sort, and a path extended from it. the path was brightly colored, and the sky around her seem to change and flicker showing images and the like. She looked behind her, her eyes widen and she ran back to the center of the square platform.

"It's gone." she said. Sure enough it was, the magic circle that brought her to this strange place wasn't here on this end. A one way trip? Was she stuck in this strange place? More than most likely. Perhaps if she explored further she could find a way to get back home.

She looked around again, hand gripped on her staff. "Such a strange place." she thought to herself. Turning her head, she spotted something somewhat familiar at least. There on the platform, another one of those Green crystals. She walked over to it and knelt down. So they came from this strange place. Again she touched it, and hoped for something other than another "Cannon'

She blinked. "Zenny?" She stood up. A currency? But how does she use it? There was no physical object to hold. Like the spells the Zenny seemed to be in her mind. She focused on it, and she blinked, something appeared in front of her, the words 'account balance' followed by a number: 50z. The exact amount she got from that data. She looked at it for a moment, and then thought about the 3 spells. and again another image came up, this one showed her the three spells she got from the crystals and that creature, Two cannons and Shockwave. So the cannons were treated as separate uses. There were two windows on this image. One was labeled "Chip Folder" the other was labeled "Collection". On the Chip folder at the top was another set of numbers. 3/30.

She thought for a moment. "So I can commit 30 of these...'chips' to memory, and others are kept stored away, is that how it works?' But what about her regular magic? She concentrated, concentrated on everything in her mind and on this strange world, and more images and windows started to pop up, a 'library' showing the chips she collected so far, the Cannon, and the Shockwave, there was another window showing something called Sub chips, she didn't have any of what was listed, figure that out later. She held her head, it throbbed with a headache as she was trying to take in all of this information that was coming in all at once. Wait, here's one, it showed an image of herself, a symbol of kind, does that symbol represent her? Like a crest? "Leilei-exe" was the name shown. What is .exe? It gave her some numbers, what looked like her status and abilities. She didn't seem to have the magic that Calto taught her though, but it looked like she had a basic set of spells around Fire, Ice and lightning. Better than nothing right? Her power seemed relatively low though in this world, perhaps the chips help balance that out?

"So I collect chips to compliment my natural abilities, which seem to be weaker by comparison." she thought. She was taking notes of some of the numeric values on the 'chips' If this represented the power of the chips, then proper utilization of them is probably key to surviving in this strange place.

"I need more chips." Leilei thought. She looked ahead at her surroundings. "Let's go find some."

"Alright, now that class is over lets Net Battle!" said Blake as he and Rom stared each other down.

"As long as you're ready to lose." said Rom pulling out his PET.

"Ha! No way I'm going to lose!" said Blake. "Me and Hard Man have been training day and night! Your days are numbered."

"So what's the stakes?" Rom asked as the jacked in.

"Winner takes a Battle chip from the loser." Said Blake.

"I didn't know Hardman knew how to use ranged weapons." Rom said grinning.

"Shut up and battle." said Blake.

Axl and Hardman stood across from each other, Axl grinning as the signal to begin was given and he quickly put up a RockCube, ducking behind it and using it as cover to take shots at Hardman.

"Hardman punch out that RockCube" said Blake. Hardman nodded rushing for the obstacle.

"Here he comes" said Axl.

"Right." said Rom, he'd slide in a couple of battle chip, and Axl found himself holding a shotgun, He'd Ratchet it turn and blast Hardman point blank in the face. "Eat Buckshot Hardman!" He'd unloaded two more Shotgun attacks on Hardman reducing his HP before pelting him with shots from his Pistols.

Blake growled slamming in battle chips. "I'm getting real sick of your long range crap Rom! Hardman! Area Grab and Sword combo!"

"Right." Hardman's left arm turned into a sword as the Area grab activated, reducing Axl's movement as his opponent lunged in.

"Oh for god sakes!" He brought his guard up as he got slashed but Hardman.

"And if you think that's all I got." Blake grin as he fanned three chips in his hand.

"Oh no." Rom scrambled for a Battle chip as Blake slotted the three chips in. There was flash on the field as Hardman's left arm changed again.

"LIFE SWORD?!" said Axl. "When the hell did you manage to get the chips for that!?"

"This is my win Rom!" said Blake, "Slice him Hardman!"

"With Pleasure!" said Hardman.

"Rom!" said Axl. "It was nice knowing you!" He winced and brought his guard up as Hardman swung covering the field in a massive blade slash, just as Rom slotted the chip he just pulled out.

"Ha! Deleted!" said Blake.

"Nope." said Rom grinning.

"Huh?" Blake looked at his screen. "Hey where is he? Hardman didn't he blow up?"

"Uh..." Hardman stared, and Rom grinned.

"Invisible." said Rom.

"Can you save me with LESS drama next time?" Axl asked.

"Sorry about that." Rom said as he slotted another Battle chip in. Axl became visible, brandishing a mini gun.

"This is going to hurt." Hardman said with a gulp.

Axl grinned. "Cry some more." And he unloaded on Hardman, wiping out the rest of his HP.

"Damn it!" said Blake.

Rom grinned. "My win Blake. Let's see, how about you give me that modified Power Fist attack as a Battle chip?"  
"It's called "Hard Knuckle" said Blake. He grumbled, taking out a blank chip and slotting it in. After a few seconds he slotted it out and handed it to Rom. "I'll get my revenge, you'll see."

"Yeah yeah." said Rom. "Thanks for the chip.

"Come on Rom lets go home!" said Axl.

Leilei aimed her staff, releasing a fire spell and blasting one of those hat wearing critters with it, the world identified it as a "Mettaur" and there were more of them around this time, often attacking in small packs, and then there were the "Canodumbs", stationary defensive structures it seems that resembled the image on the 'cannon' chips she had. They'd fire on her if she was in their line of sight, however they seem to sweep the field with some kind of sighting magic before taking a shot. As long as she wasn't marked she was safe. She managed to gather up a little more Zenny, and found more battle chips, though they were mostly Cannons and shockwaves from fighting the mettaurs and Canodumbs who seem to drop them, she was beginning to learn some rules though of this world. She can only commit 5 chips of the same type to memory in her 'folder' maybe to prevent abusing powerful chips that could be available later on, she's also figured out the meaning behind the letters at the end of the chip names, she can only ready chips if they are the same type, like say 5 cannons, or if they shared the same code. She's been getting (A) and (B) codes for the cannon chips she's acquired from Canodumbs, and the shockwaves from the Mettaurs were mostly (D), (L), and (T). So she can't use a cannon and a shockwave at the same time. She had also been scouring the green crystals, and found a new chip called 'Recover 10', this one had a (*) next to the name, and she found out it can be used with any other code. And based on it's name she figured it was like a healing spell.

"Very handy." she thought as she committed it to her folder memory, the last thing she'd want to find out is what would happen if she died in this place. She'd turn from the crystal she had just picked up, and her eyes widen and she jumped back insticvely as something sliced in front of her, looking ahead there was another monster she wasn't familiar with, It vaguely looked like a knight and floated in the air on a point with no legs, and in it's hand it carried a sword with a glowing blade. It was blue in color and it spun it's sword in it's hand. Her information brought up the name "Swordy"

"A close combat monster." she said, and watched in dismay as two more showed up. She readied her five cannons and quickly fired at one of them. It was hit and staggered but it didn't die.

"Stronger." Leilei said, she took aim and fired again, destroying it on the second shot before dodging the second one's sword swipe. Leilei quickly ran to the side, readying her magic and she let loose bolts of lightning striking down on the two remaining Swordys before readying her third cannon and aiming, firing at the second swordy and damaging it again, but not destroying it. She muttered under her breath about how weak her magic was in this world, as she readied another thunder bolt, but her eyes widen and she was caught off guard when all of a suddenly the Swordy closed the distance faster then she could react and she heard her staff fall to the ground, she blinked and turned, feeling a sharp pain for some reason and her eyes widening when she saw her arm was gone at the elbow. She looked down seeing her staff on the ground, but no sign of her arm, she barely had time to register this when the Swordy swung again and she found herself falling back...CLEAVED in half. she stared reaching out with her still intact hand toward her lower half as she fell, and she watched as her lower body seem to break down and disappear in a similar manner to the creatures she had been fighting. As she hit the ground and the Swordys closed in. The pain finally registered, and combined with what she just saw, let out an inhuman scream of pain, fear and confusion that echoed across the sky.


	4. Chapter 3

Rom looked bored as he sat in front of his computer working on his homework. He finally came down off the high from his net battle with Blake, and he was twitchy now.

"Man I'm bored." said Rom sitting back in his chair. "We should go on the net."  
"Let's get our homework done first okay Rom?" said Axl. "You don't want to make Mrs. Hikari mad do you?"

Rom sighed defeated. "No I guess not." He looked over, hearing the email notification ping on his PET.

"Hey Rom! You got mail, it's from Ciel." said Axl.

"Cousin Ciel? About time!" Rom brought up the email program on his computer. "I only emailed her like a week ago."

'Hey, sorry for the late response, but work here at Scilab has been hectic lately. Be careful when you go on the net by the way the virus activity has increased and there have been reports of viruses popping up in areas where they normally shouldn't be. Zero has also been busy trying to thin out the viruses so he's not around as much, but if he were here he'd say hi. Tell Uncle Barrel I should be able to come over for dinner in another day or two, and that I'm sorry for putting it off for so long.

As for getting me to ask Dr. Hikari to net battle you? Do it yourself next time you visit and stop being so nervous about it.

Love ya always! Ciel'

Axl snickered.

"What are you laughing at?" Rom asked.

"Man she sure told you good." said Axl. "She's right, I mean we live in the same town as Lan, just go to his front door and knock."  
"I can't do that!" said Rom. "I mean, what if he says no? Or doesn't even acknowledge me?" that just made Axl laugh even harder.

Rom, quickly changing the subject, said "what do you think of what she said? About the weird virus sightings?"  
"Viruses appearing where they shouldn't?" Axl asked. "that does sound troublesome. We could be minding our own business dealing with Mettaurs and get attacked by something from the under net, at least that's what it sounds like."

"Well now I'm motivated." said Rom as he grabbed his PET. "Let's jack in and patrol the net!"

"Wait a minute Rom!" said Axl. "What about your homework!?"

"Axl, as a net battler it is my sworn duty to protect the net!" said Axl.

"Sworn duty my coding!" said Axl. "You just want to skip out on your homework!"

"Oh come on Axl." said Rom. "We just jack in, sweep the net and be back in time to finish homework. 5 minutes tops!"

Axl sighed. "You won't take no for an answer huh?"  
"Nope." said Rom. "Come on! it's time for a neighborhood watch!"

Again, Axl sighed. "Fine."

The first thing Axl heard when he jacked into the ACDC network, area 1, was an inhuman scream echoing across the net. The scream sent a chill down his spine.

"Rom, did you hear that?" Axl said.

"Sure did buddy." said Rom. "Sounded like it came from the west, near Clair's PC. Kick it into high gear!"  
Axl nodded, and quickly raced down the roadway. The main road of the ACDC area was wider than the side paths and a bright yellow color, making it easier to navigate like a main street. He turned off the main road, looking ahead. "Rom! I see Swordys."

"Swordys? They shouldn't be in this part of the ACDC net." said Rom. "This has to be what Ciel mentioned in her email. About Viruses appearing in areas they shouldn't be in. Axl! Battle Routine set!" Rom fanned out chips and started to slot them into his PET.

"EXECUTE!" Shouted Axl as he shoulder tackled a Swordy, knocking him off the pathway and into the abyss as he turned and put a hole in the second Swordy with a Shotgun chip, followed by a second Shotgun for good measure.

"You see anymore buddy?" Rom asked.

"No, looks like the close is...oh god!" Axl ran over, skidding to a stop and kneeling down next to what appeared to be a net Navi, or what was left of one. Her lower body from the waist down and half her right arm was good. Her blue eyes were dull and lifeless and she was twitching from the damage. Her appearance suggested some sort of fantasy wizard. There was a fancy looking magician's staff on the floor nearby. "Rom I think I found the source of the scream. A Net Navi and she's in bad shape."

Rom blinked, looking at his screen. "That looks like a custom net Navi, but I don't recognize her."  
"Maybe from out of town." said Axl. "Could be an independent."

"Hu..." The net Navi twitched, trying to speak...

"Hmm?" Axl looked at her. "I think she's trying to say something."  
"Human...human...human." was all she said, repeated over and over like a madness mantra, her voice distorted from the damage sustained.

"She must have run into the Swordys." said Rom. "Why is she saying 'human'?"

"I don't know." said Axl.

"Human...I'm...human...I'm..." She spoke again, she sounded crazy.

"She probably in shock from the damage." said Axl. "Those Swordys did a number on her."  
"Bring her to Clair's PC it's closer." said Axl. "I'll go talk to Grandpa."  
"Right." said Axl, she'd pick the Net Navi up, her head and arms going limp as she was picked up. "Don't worry, we'll get you someplace safe where we can repair you."

"Re...repair...repair..." again the Navi stuttered as Axl ran down the path.

Clair Haines is 2 years older than Rom. a pretty girl with brown hair down to her back, often wearing a red bow in her hair. She had hazel colored eyes and a pale complexion, a result of her illness which has left her bound to a wheelchair. She lives in ACDC town on the hill overlooking the town in a large mansion left to her by a wealthy Aunt. Because of her condition she does not go to the middle school, and is instead homeschooled by tutors. Despite all of this she is a friendly girl and a friend of Rom and Palette, and on top of everything else, she was a genius when it came to programming and design, being able to make accessories for net navis and even a few custom navies herself.

When her PC pinged, she wondered who would be visiting, spinning her chair around she rolled over to her desk, putting her glasses on as she hit a key on the keyboard, the screen coming on showing Axl standing inside her PC homepage. A two tiered setup with a background showing Teddy bears and wheelchairs.

"Axl!" Clair smiled. "What brings you...oh my." her eyes finally settled onto the netnavi in Axl's arms and she adjusted her glasses. "Oh dear! Is she okay?"  
"I don't know!" said Axl. "She's badly damaged, but she's not completely deleted."

Clair quickly started typing up on her keyboard. "We'll need to get her into a PET, she's too vulnerable to be left in a pc, a mettaur could probably delete her by poking her with its foot." She spun the wheelchair around and practically flew across the room, the way she handled the chair was insane. She snatched up one of her spare PETs, wheeling back around and over to the desk as she plugged it in. "Okay I'm preparing to jack the Navi into the PET now and, Jack out!" she pressed a key, and the Navi's broken body would disappear, reappearing on the PET screen. She'd disconnect the PET and took it in her hand, bringing up the Navi's data.

"Hmm." She sat back in her wheel chair. "Looks like she has a built in Undershot, that's why she's still alive, she should be fine while she's inside the PET."

"Rom and I found her surrounded by Swordys near your PC access." Axl said from the PC monitor.

"Swordys in this part of ACDC's net?" Clair asked. "They shouldn't be in this area, Area 2 at the minimum closer to the city center, a rural town like this should only have basic viruses hanging about. No wonder she nearly got deleted. Poor girl must have gotten one shot by one of them."

"Can you help her?" Axl asked.

Clair smiled. "Of course. You forget who you're talking to Axl. After all I did make you that Hat and poncho." she looked at the netnavi. "But with this much damage done to her, I may have to reboot her and rebuild her from scratch, new body and everything." She looked over the data again. "Leilei La Lalena, Leilei-exe for short. What a strange name for a Net Navi."  
"Rather Alliterative don't you think?" Axl asked.

"Quite the mouthful." said Clair. "Judging by her design, it looks like she had some kind of wizard motif. Oh, it looks like she has Battle Chip data built in. Guess she's an independent Net Navi." She set the PET down and slid across to that shelf again, rummaging. "I'll have to transfer that data to battle chips before I reboot her, She probably worked hard for those chips. So where's Rom?"  
"He's talking with his grandfather." said Axl. "Probably to get his advice."  
"Well you made the right call bringing her here." said Clair. "She may not have survived a trip back to your PC."

"Well your PC was the closest." said Axl.

"Still, I wonder where she came from." said Clair. She adjusted her glasses. "I think I'll have the Genesis unit check out the area where you found her later. Might give us a clue."  
"Sounds good." said Axl. "If you don't need me I'll head back to Rom's PC, he's been distracted enough from his homework as it is."  
Clair smiled. "Alright, nice seeing you again Axl. When I'm finished repairing Leilei I'll bring her over to your house okay?"  
"Got it." Axl tipped his hat to Clair and left her PC.

Clair let out a breath of air and turned to the PET. "Okay Leilei, let's get you back on your feet." she tapped her chin. "and maybe do something about that outfit your wearing.

Rom had run into his grandfather's study nearly skidding to a stop and tripping. Barrel Casket looked up from a book he was reading, he was an elderly man in his 70's, bushy white hair that was balding and a thick bushy beard and mustache, wearing a monocle over one eye. He was dressed like he was ready for work, even though he retired, though once in awhile he helped out at Scilab as a consultant. He wore a white button up shirt with a brown vest, brown slacks and shoes, he raised an eyebrow as he watched his grandson nearly trip on the carpet. "Rom slow down, what's the rush?"  
"Oh, Grandpa. Axl and I were on the net and..."  
"On the net? I assume you finished your homework then?" Barrel asked.

"Er, no...but never mind that." said Rom. "We found a Netnavi."  
"Well it is the net." said Barrel. "You're bound to run into Netnavis."  
"Ones half dead and being attacked by Swordys?" Rom asked.

"Swordys? Preposterous!" said Barrel. "They don't spawn in this part of the net."

"Gramps I know what I saw." said Rom.

"Hmm. Where is this netnavi now?" Barrel asked, seeing the look in Rom's eyes, he could tell when Rom was serious by looking at his eyes. It was a trait he inherited from his mother.

"We brought her to Clair's PC, that's where we found her." said Rom.

"Then she's in good hands." said Barrel. "So why come tell me about it?"  
"Well, when we found her she was badly damaged, and maybe because of that damage she was mumbling something odd. "Human, I'm human." over and over again. We just thought it was the shock of taking so much damage, she was in pretty bad shape and close to deletion."

"Hmm, that is strange indeed." said Barrel. "A Netnavi claiming to be human? And on top of that, you have these Swordys popping up and attacking her. This part of the ACDC net only spawns Mettaurs, Canodumbs, Bunnies, Fishy and rarely the occasional Spiky. But never a Swordy." He stroked his beard.

"I had gotten an email about it from Ciel." said Rom. "After reading it Axl and I jacked into the net to do a quick circuit, you know like a neighborhood watch. If there are stronger viruses appearing in areas they shouldn't, it would be dangerous for weaker and non combat Netnavis."

"Neighborhood watch huh? Not a bad idea." said Barrel. "Despite the fact you skipped out on your homework, if you hadn't done that, that net Navi would probably be dead."

Rom smiled. "Thanks Gramps."  
"Now then, go back to your room, finish up your homework alright? I'll see if I can't get in touch with Ciel at Scilab and see what else she knows." said Barrel. "Anything else she said?"  
"Only to tell you she should be home for dinner in another day or two, and to apologize for having put it off for so long."  
Barrel laughed. "No need to apologize, we all know how busy she's been with her research." He looked to Rom. "Now go on get back to your homework!"  
Rom nodded. "Yes sir." He'd turn heading out of the room.

Barrel sat back before picking up the phone and dialing the number for Scilab, he placed the receiver to his ear, listening to it ring. There was a click, and he smiled hearing the voice at the other end.

"Dr. Hikari, don't tell me my niece has you doing secretarial work for her now?" he laughed. "I'm doing fine, and you? Ah that's good, so your dad finally retired huh? About time. Seriously you'd think he was attached to that place by the hip, but then Scilab does run in the Hikari bloodline doesn't it. Won't be long before Patch is running around there eh? Listen do you think you can pry Ciel off of her research for a few seconds? I need to talk to her about something. Thanks." He sat back, looking at the ceiling, he could hear what sounded like complaining, before a female voice chimed in.

"Ah Ciel, its Uncle Barrel. Listen I need to ask you something about your research."

Leilei's eyes slowly came back into focus as the world around her started to come back. She stared, wide eyed and scared at what appeared to be total darkness around her.

"Where am I?" she said, looking around. It felt like she was floating. Was she dead?

"I was...attacked, and..." she looked down at herself, her eyes widening seeing the missing arm and the entire lower half of her missing, causing her to scream again, she felt like she was about to go into shock again, when a light suddenly appeared, and she saw some kind of large window appear in front of her, showing a room of some kind, it looked like a bedroom, with a bed, desk, a shelf with books and strange contraptions on it. Instinctively she reached her still good hand out to the window, if she can get to it, maybe she can get out of this darkness, but as her hand reached out, it went right through the window, which flickered, it was an illusion?  
"Leilei?" She blinked hearing her name, and watched as someone came into view. A person, a girl, sitting in a chair with wheels on it, she saw the angle of the image move as if the girl picked up the window. "Leilei it's okay, it's okay, just calm down."  
"How...How do you know my name?" Leilei asked, staring at the girl.

"It was in your information data." said the girl. "I was able to access it when I transferred you to this PET."  
"PET?" Leilei blinked.

"Yeah you know? A Personal Terminal." said the girl. "Even independent Netnavis know what a PET is."

Leilei shook her head, trying to wrap her head around this. "Not a 'netnavi'" she said.

"Huh?" The girl looked confused. "Not a net Navi?"  
"Human." she said shakily. "Human, I'm human, I'm human, I'm-" she looked down again at her broken body.

"Take it easy." said the girl. "You're still in shock from all the damage you took."  
"How...how am I still alive?" Leilei asked. "Getting cut in half, I should be dead, bleeding out."

"Well thankfully Netnavis don't bleed." said the girl. "as for how you survived, you have an 'Undershot' program built in, It prevented you from being depleted by a fatal hit."

"Undershot..." Leilei trembled.

"Where are you from Leilei?" the girl asked. "Like what part of the net?"  
"Net?" Leilei looked at the girl. "Is that where I am? The net?"  
The girl raised an eyebrow, what a strange net Navi.

"How did I get here?" Leilei asked looking at the darkness. "I remember being in some strange place with colorful walkways, and then I was attacked by those um..."  
"Swordys." said Clair. "My friend and his netnavi found you, they fought off the remaining Swordys and brought you here as my PC was closest to where they found you. I transferred you to an empty PET where you would be safer, so I apologize for it looking so...well...empty."  
Leilei nodded.

"Oh my name is Clair." she said. "And I may not look it, but I'm very good at programming and designing Netnavis, so I'll have you walking around in no time."  
Leilei blinked. "You...you can heal missing limbs?"  
Clair grinned. "Leilei I can build you a whole new body. Which I might have to do, you did suffer a lot of damage, I may even have to reboot your systems. Oh don't worry about your battle chips, I transferred the data from yourself onto chips see?" She held up something in her hand, a small blue card with a cannon icon on it.

"That's my cannon." said Leilei.

"One of them." said Clair. "I also have the Shockwaves you picked up and that Recover 10, as well as the 1200 Zenny, that is stored in the PET."

Leilei, finally managing to calm down, smiled and bowed. "Thank you Clair."  
"No problem." said Clair as she set the PET down into its charging station. "Now, how about you tell me about yourself while I work up some design ideas for you? And I'll tell you all about myself"  
Leilei nodded. "Alright. But I don't know if you'll believe me."

Clair grinned. "So much weird stuff happens in ACDC town." she said. "So you'd be surprised by what I'd believe."


End file.
